Poem by Michael La Bombarda

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He
It was all my fault
I said, stretching this fantasy
Into corporeal semblance,
Yes, I was too unfaithful
Too many times, and now
I understand the hurt
I caused you. Never speak
To me again and it will
Emphasize my wrongdoing.
I will write a De Sadean novel
With you as Justine
Including my faults and peccadilloes
In as graphic detail as decorum permits.
I hope it meets with your satisfaction.
She
All this happens on thin blue lines
Racing towards the edges of my notebook,
And the prison-like spirals
Sans barbed-wired at one end,
Hinting at your inevitable incarceration.
You were and are a louse,
And I was completely and irrefutably hurt,
And I appreciate your letting me have my say,
Unlike most men who need the last word
In their works to maintain self-esteem.
You may use my name for your De Sadean novel,
And unlike John Milton, who made Satan
The most rounded and exciting character
In Paradise Lost, make me the protagonist
And personification of everything good,
And don’t write The End when the book
Is finished, but This Is A Joyous Begninning
For this Suffering Woman Free from Me.
I’d appreciate that, would kiss the page.

Ira Joel Haber was born and lives in Brooklyn. He is a sculptor, painter, writer, book dealer,photographer and teacher. His work has been seen in numerous group shows bothin the USA and Europe and he has had 9 one man shows including several retrospectives of his sculpture. His work is in the collections of The Whitney Museum Of American Art, New York University, The Guggenheim Museum, The Hirshhorn Museum,The Albright-Knox Art Gallery & The Allen Memorial Art Museum. Since 2006 His paintings, drawings, photographs and collages have been published in over 230 on line and print magazines. He has received three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, two Pollock-Krasner grants, the Adolph Gottlieb Foundation grant and, in 2010, he received a grant from Artists’ Fellowship Inc. He currently teaches art to retired public school teachers at The United Federation of Teachers program in Brooklyn.